Tchoncy

Sample Text

I. Phonology

I.1 Vowels

I.2 Consonants

I.3 Remarks

II. Nominals

• There are no morphological rules, as Tchoncy is purely isolating.
• Modifiers follow nouns, thus khinqu iqwycl /dog big/ means "big dog".
• There are no articles.

III. Verbals

IV. Syntax

• Basic VSO word order.

V. Examples

• incicf tiyu tchykqa . JI_?\f ty:_R c_h@?_F sleep go I . I slept.

• incicf tiyu vyngu tchykqa . sleep go want I . I will have slept. / I want to sleep.

• incicf vyngu tchykqa . sleep want I . I will sleep.

• tiyu tiyu bacu tchykqa . go go PRT I . I went.

• scay dceclly mucv tiyu tchykqa khinqu iqwycl . PRT leg hit go I dog big . I kicked the big dog.

• mucv tiyu tchykqa srilw . hit go I PAT . I was hit.

• scay tchwarq mucv tracrrya khinqu woxy tchykqa srilw . PRT tooth hit do dog ERG I PAT . The dog bit me.

• scay tchwarq mucv tracrrya tchykqa srilw khinqu . PRT tooth hit do I PAT dog . I was bitten by the dog.

• scay mucv tracrrya (dcykqa woxy) tchykqa srilw gqacwa rycxu . PRT hit do (he/she ERG) I PAT stick use . He/she hit me with a stick.

• tchykqa izruvy incicf tiyu . I NEG sleep go . I didn't sleep.

• tchykqa woxy kqecrru izruvy dceclly mucv tiyu scay khinqu iqwycl . I ERG PRT NEG leg hit go PRT dog big . I didn't kick the big dog.

• kwiw tiyu tiyu iwcokq ? QUEST go go PRT ? Did (s)he go?

• ithicrr dceclly mucv tiyu tchykqa kwiw (srilw) ? PRT leg hit go I QUEST (PRT) ? What (who) did I kick?

• kwiw ithicrr izruvy tiyu tiyu iwcokq ? QUEST PRT NEG go go PRT ? Did (s)he not go?

• incicf dcucma tchykqa . sleep sit I . I am sleeping.

• dcucma dcucma bacu . sit sit PRT . (S)he is sitting.

• incicf dcucma tchykqa iscenqy . sleep sit I PAST . I was sleeping.

• incicf dcucma tiyu tchykqa . sleep sit go I . I had been sleeping.

• bwaju tiyu tchykqa miclh dcykqa rycxu . give go I gift person use . I gave him/her a gift.

• dcykqa rycxu iscenqy bwaju tiyu tchykqa miclh gqyczu rycxu . person use PRT give go I gift PRT use . It was him/her I gave a gift to.

• khinqu iscenqy mucv tiyu tchykqa gqyczu . dog PRT hit go I prt . It was the dog I hit.

• tchykqa srilw iscenqy tchwarq mucv tiyu khinqu gqyczu srilw . I PAT PRT tooth hit go dog PRT PAT . It was me the dog bit.

• gqacvy khinqu izruvy tchwarq ; tcusa dref ibis qickq . bark dog NEG tooth ; rattle snake plan strike . A barking dog doesn't bite; the rattling snake will strike.

  (n.b. the Tchoncy here is in the stylized form described elsewhere.)

• wilh ngorry trhym itcwez ; ... . have rose all thorn ; ... . All roses have thorns;....

• .

VI. Sample Lexicon

Grammatical Particles

Nouns

Verbs